Sunday, 29 March 2015

Here are more photos from the Jashemski Archive and pompeiiinpictures, this time comparing 1968 and 2005. These are from the Complesso dei Riti magici or the Magic Rites Complex II.1.12.

II.1.12 Pompeii. 2005. Entrance doorway.

Photo by Jackie and Bob Dunn www.pompeiiinpictures.com

II.1.12 Pompeii,
1968. Entrance doorway.

Photo by Stanley A.
Jashemski.

J68f0270

Source: The
Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

Pompeii.
May 2005. Two pilaster paintings (at top on beam) from entrance façade of
II.1.12.

These were displayed in III.3.6.

Photo by Jackie and Bob Dunn www.pompeiiinpictures.com

The two pilaster paintings shown in May 2005 were in the Schola Armaturarum at the time of its collapse in November 2010, and they may or may not have been destroyed.Does anyone know what happened to them?This comparison also highlights the fact that many of our pictures are now 10 years old.The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that we are coming back to live in the UK.This will allow us to make more frequent trips to Pompeii than has been possible from Australia.We intend to retake all the photos, highlighting the improvements made over the years.See more of Complesso dei Riti magici on pompeiiinpictures.comJackie and Bob at pompeiiinpictures

Photos tourists take of Pompeii are almost identical to those taken by our ancestors. After examining 19th and early 20th century lantern slides of Pompeii and modern day photos researchers discovered the shots taken around the site are remarkably similar.

Thursday, 19 March 2015

The Herculaneum Society is pleased to announce scholarships for undergraduates and postgraduates to participate in two summer schools in the archaeology, history and culture of Herculaneum and other Vesuvian sites, 22-26 June 2015 and 7-11 September 2015. The schools will be operated by Dr Christian Biggi, Director of BIG Heritage Consultancy, with the assistance of by Dr Joanne Berry, author of The Complete Pompeii. You will be taught by a team with many years' experience in operating schools, and who have been closely involved in major initiatives in Vesuvian archaeology. You will stay in a luxurious 4* hotel in Ercolano, with easy access to the Herculaneum excavations. Appearances by guest specialists in archaeology and history add an extra dimension. On this year's courses, a session led by Dr Dirk Obbink of Oxford University, world-renowned papyrologist and trustee of the Herculaneum Society, is planned.

The Society can offer up to four scholarships of £500 (€650) each to deserving students. In addition, there are two free places on each course for accompanying staff to help with oversight of students. Please enquire with the Society if you are interested in taking this task on (herculaneum@classics.ox.ac.uk).

For full details of programme and registration procedures, please click here. You can register as an individual, or a group. In the latter case, please contact the Society as soon as possible (herculaneum@classics.ox.ac.uk) .

Applications are due at the latest one month before the course is due to start. To be considered for a scholarship, applications must be made at the latest six weeks before the course is due to start.

Pompeii's biggest house, the Villa of the Mysteries, is set to reopen in its entirety on March 20, following nearly two years of restoration work that began in May 2013.

The restoration was conducted in lots so that parts of the Villa were still open to the public throughout the restoration process.

The recent restoration work, which involved 70 rooms of the Villa, corrected some of the damage inflicted by previous restoration techniques that were found to be harmful to the Villa's frescoes over the years.

In work done during the 1930s, wax was applied to preserve the frescoes, but ultimately faded the colours, something that was corrected using techniques to first identify the nature of the chromatic alterations and other damage over time and then perform restorations.

In addition to work done to restore the Villa's frescoes, work was also done to clean the intricate mosaic floor decorations.

Tuesday, 10 March 2015

In the Insula VI.1 post-excavation projectwe have recently been looking at our miniature
ceramic vessels, and a paper on this has just been published in FOLD&R. One type we found in large numbers were the
enigmatic coperchi. Unlike the common
two-handled calici it seems very difficult to find examples of
these outside of Pompeii – and they are not common there.

Coperchi from Insula VI.1

Lara Anniboletti’s work on the niches and house-front
shrines is relevant here, as one of them has also produced coperchi.The associations
of the coperchi seem to suggest that
they are linked with neighbourhood cults, unlike the calice which are found in a wider variety of contexts.

Whilst cataloguing them I noticed they were very impractical
as vessels, but functioned quite well as little cymbals. I tossed this in as
observation at the end of the paper. The referees liked it and wanted it
developed. This was interesting as if we consider them as ‘musical’ instruments
then they would be very appropriate for the sort of processions likely to have
taken place in neighbourhood cult ceremonies.

Extrapolating further, clappers and cymbals tended to be the
instruments of female dancers in antiquity. Are coperchigendered?Given that drawing and carrying water has
always been women’s work, are we looking at a female neighbourhood shrine
around the well in the second to first
century BC, supplanted by a cross-roads shrine organised by malesin the Augustan period?

Possibly this is a speculation too far, but it would be
interesting to know if other teams have unpublished examples of coperchi and, if so, in
what contexts.

Sunday, 8 March 2015

I.12.2 and I.12.1 bakery, Via dell'Abbondanza.

1961 & 2009.

An interesting comparison, in a bakery that is normally closed to the public.While the bright red plaster has suffered under the elements the oven behind is in a much improved state.

I.12.2 and I.12.1 Pompeii. 1961.

Doorway to
room 11 in east wall of portico.

Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski. J61f0252

Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.

I.12.2 and I.12.1 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway
to room 11 in east wall of portico.Photo Jackie and Bob Dunn www.pompeiiinpictures.com